MONTEREY >> Although teachers at the Monterey Peninsula Unified School District earn among the lowest salaries when compared with similar districts, they also get some of the most generous benefits.

MPUSD, the largest district on the Monterey Peninsula, also spends more on health care benefits for retirees than other similar districts.

These are some of the conclusions reached by WestEd in its analysis of the district and how it spends its money. The analysis was commissioned at the urging of the district’s budget advisory committee, formed last year to examine the district finances.

The lowest teacher salary in MPUSD was $38,200 a year in 2012-13, which also was the lowest in a list of 10 districts with similar demographics. The average salary was $57,950, which was also the lowest among the comparable districts, according to the analysis.

But when it comes to benefits, MPUSD spends more than similar districts. In 2012-13, MPUSD spent $1,465 per student in employee benefits, compared to $615 by Woodland Joint Unified and $1,322 by Pittsburg Unified, two of the districts included in the comparison.

Included in those expenses is $199 per student in workers’ compensation insurance and $139 in benefits for retired employees. By comparison, the district that comes next with post-employment benefits expenditures is King Canyon Joint Unified, which spends $79 per student.

The analysis was carried out to help district officials see where the money is going and whether it’s helping with the mission of student achievement. Members of the budget advisory committee, comprised of teachers, administrators and community members, requested the study to help them draft new spending plans that are more focused on student achievement.

The recommendations, which include the revision or elimination of the eight-period day, will be used along with a recent curriculum audit report to build new budgets. It’s great timing, many say, since California schools must now develop spending plans according to the Local Control Funding Formula, which expects money to be used to increase student achievement.

Camilo Wilson, a Monterey parent, was pleased to hear the report presentation late Thursday.

“Certainly the previous board did a tremendous thing in ordering these audits,” Wilson said. “It took courage to get them, it was a tremendous accomplishment.”

But the auditors used some old data, which could alter the picture painted by the reports. For instance, the district has changed some benefits for retirees, so more information is needed before making some of the changes recommended, some officials said.

The eight-period day, for instance. The curriculum audit said it costs the district $2.2 million, although it did not specify what kind of results it’s producing.

“We need to look at that in-depth before any changes are made,” Board President Bettye Lusk said. “I’m grateful to have this additional information before we make changes.”

Allyson Schweifler, president of the Monterey Bay Teachers Association, said expenditures is just one part of the equation.

“It takes a lot to schedule classes for so many students,” she said. “That’s going to have a huge impact for master schedules, and (going back to fewer classes in the day) may not necessarily be the best route. That may have unintended consequences.”

Superintendent PK Diffenbaugh also said more analysis needs to be done before eliminating the eight-period day and making modifications to employee benefits.

“At this point I think we need to focus on our implementation before we make dramatic changes to the schedule, but certainly it’s something to look at in the future,” he said.

Both recent analysis of the district will help build new budgets that will focus on what students need so they can improve achievement, district officials say.

“It’s a new way of thinking about resource allocation,” Diffenbaugh said.